[jdr]

Hello! My problems is similar to many posts... My tower unit shuts down at will. If I let it set off for about an hour, I might get it to operate 10 minutes. If I reboot it as soon as it shuts off, it will shut off during Windows boot-up. The problem has been getting gradually worse, until finally it is a real problem. Here is what I have done: After reading many posts for this problem, I suspected a bad power supply, as it would 'click' just before shutting down, and I have to turn the power switch on the power supply off and then back on to get the computer to reboot. I installed a 400W power supply- still same problem. The fans are running properly, (AMD), and I tried to start in safe mode- it still shut down. I am running XP Pro. It seems to shut down when a disk drive is turned on. I unplugged the 2 disk drives, (of course the system recognized a hardware problem) "F1'ed" past the error message, and the system still shut down while starting windows. I am going to let it set long enough to get on the web and download Speedfan, and will post what I find. Anyone with any other recommendations?
Thanks!
Joel

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heat--amd has a thermal shutdown protection code that will turn off the pc to save itself if you are getting into the dangerous area that your cpu will fry

clean the dust bunnies from your cpu fan.

Take a small fan and blow it into the open case to test.

[gerryf]

heat--amd has a thermal shutdown protection code that will turn off the pc to save itself if you are getting into the dangerous area that your cpu will fry

clean the dust bunnies from your cpu fan.

Take a small fan and blow it into the open case to test.

[jdr]

Thanks! I forgot to mention that I did clean all the "killer Rabbit Rodents" out of the CPU fins earlier. It was quite plugged. Could the plugged fins have damaged the CPU?
Joel

[jdr]

Got back on computer, here are Speedfan readings:
Temp1- 40C
Temp2- 29C
TEmp3- -1 C
HD0- 19C

Readings at bottom of screen:

Vcore1: 1.74V -12V: -16.97V
Vcore2: 0 -5V: -8.78V
+3.3V: 3.28V +5V: 4.97V
+5V: 4.78V Vbat: 4.08V
+12V: 12.48V

Thanks Again!
Joel

[wannabe1]

Hi jdr...

Will your machine run for longer periods in Safe Mode?

wannabe1

[jdr]

Update:

I started the computer (in regular mode), and it loaded OK. I began "working" it- making it do some math etc, and it worked perfectly. I downloaded Ewido, was able to install the program. I started a scan, got about 50% through (found 219 infections) and the system shut down. I rebooted, re-scanned (this time "Quick Scan"), and found 189 infections. Cleaned out all problems, and I decided to copy some music to disk. About 5 seconds after the CD drive started the whole thing shut down again. I happened to be watching the temp when it shut down: it shut down just when the temp reached 43C. I removed the side cover and placed a kitchen fan next to the computer, rebooted, attempted to re-scan (complete- all files) and it shut down after about 5 minutes. The temp when it shut down was 42C.
All in all, it is getting better, but it seems it is shutting down when asked to do too much work.
Any suggestions?
Thanks a million!
Joel

[wannabe1]

Download Avast!, install it, and set it to run a Boot time Scan. This is a manual scan, so you will have to be there to tell it what to do with each infection it finds. Follow the recommended action to either "Move it to the chest" or "Delete" each item.

Reboot.

If this helps, you might want to pay a visit to the Malware Forum.

[memberix]

Some BIOS have a setting for a CPU Temp at which to shutdown the PC. Make sure it isn't set too low. Set it at 70C.

[jdr]

Thanks for all the help! I think I have the proglem fixed! As I was making the system work, I noticed the temp go up on the CPU- I decided that the heat was not being removed... I removed the fan and heat sink from the CPU, smeared a thin film of heat-sink compound, replaced the heat sink and fan assy, and the temp went down about 10C. After that, all went perfectly. It hasn't shut down once! Again, thanks for your help!
Joel